Decemberists' frontman surprises Winnipeg tweeter

Jeremy Sawatzky (right) got a one-in-a-million opportunity when his tweet to The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy turned into a chance to sing in a chorus for a song that will appear on the band's upcoming album. (TWITTER PHOTO)

An innocuous tweet meant more as a lark for his friends instead landed a Winnipeg man a spot on an upcoming album of one of the biggest indie rock bands on the planet.

When Jeremy Sawatzky facetiously tweeted last Sunday, while on a road trip to the west coast, his "primary goal/wish for the next three days in Portland is to somehow cross paths with @colinmeloy," he surely never expected what came next.

Not only did the frontman of The Decemberists reply back to this one of his 1.5 million followers on Twitter — that in itself was a stroke of luck — but he also asked Sawatzky about his singing voice.

“I couldn't figure out what the question of my singing voice would have to do with anything,” said Sawatzky, who said his only real singing experience came in a Mennonite choir when he was in high school.

Meloy then told Sawatzky he was putting together a small choir to sing background on a new song for the Grammy-nominated band and invited the stunned Sawatzky and his fiancee Kate to come to a Portland studio two days later.

“So I'm like 'Well, I'm not actually a singer, just so you know.' And he says “Ahh, it'll be fine,'” Sawatzky said.

The only verification Meloy required, Sawatzky said, was that “you're not a psycho.”

“But then he commented 'You're from Winnipeg, so that's a good sign,'” Sawatzky said.

It was a fortuitous turn of events for Sawatzky, who calls The Decemberists his favourite band.

"You don't even think that he'd look at something like (the tweet)," he said. “... I was still not totally sure that it was real.”

Sawatzky said Meloy was gracious and accommodating, but said he's sworn to secrecy on any details around the album. He and the rest of the choir sang a small part on one song that is likely to be part of the forthcoming album, slated to be released some time in 2015.

Portland as a quirky city has become well-documented, most notably in the cult favourite sketch comedy Portlandia. Sawatzky's story sounds like it was torn from one of those skits.

“The producer (Tucker Martine) is there, we walk in and right away Tucker was like 'Oh yeah, you're the guy from Twitter,'” he said. “Everyone else was in some way connected to the Portland music scene and they all kinda knew of each other. I was just the random weird guy.”

Decemberists' frontman surprises Winnipeg tweeter

An innocuous tweet meant more as a lark for his friends instead landed a Winnipeg man a spot on an upcoming album of one of the biggest indie rock bands on the planet.

When Jeremy Sawatzky facetiously tweeted last Sunday, while on a road trip to the west coast, his "primary goal/wish for the next three days in Portland is to somehow cross paths with @colinmeloy," he surely never expected what came next.

Not only did the frontman of The Decemberists reply back to this one of his 1.5 million followers on Twitter — that in itself was a stroke of luck — but he also asked Sawatzky about his singing voice.

“I couldn't figure out what the question of my singing voice would have to do with anything,” said Sawatzky, who said his only real singing experience came in a Mennonite choir when he was in high school.